Latest Articles
Mountain View Considering Upping North Bayshore FAR
February 18, 2010
Google has devoured much of the Shoreline and North Bayshore area of Mountain View and now is seeking to work with the city of Mountain View to make the city “a model for Silicon Valley”.
This entails bringing in MUX and residential uses, and increasing the FAR. My bet is public transportation (rightly so) is a [...]
Creditors Push For Auction of Whistler on Friday
February 18, 2010
The site of the 2010 Winter Olympics may be headed for auction on Friday. Apparently investors in the resort are back on payments on a $524M loan the used to acquire Whistler and other resorts and creditors are pushing for a sale to happen as soon as Friday.
The story begins in the distant days when [...]
AvalonBay Resuming Apartment Construction
February 18, 2010
After nearly a year of halting new construction, AvalonBay has resumed apartment construction. The company has plans to construct some $400M of new apartment product as the company and others begin to wager that jobs will return and apartment vacancy rates will plummet.
AvalonBay, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is putting shovels in the ground when 8 [...]
2010 Silicon Valley Index Released
February 17, 2010
Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network has released its comprehensive Silicon Valley Index for 2010. The 76-page report covers everything Silicon Valley, from governance, to economy and society.
The full report can be downloaded from here. We’ll also link to it from our link bar.
[via Joint Venture]
Premier Retail Location in Default
February 16, 2010
Remember the Premier Retail Location by Santana Row we blogged about back in October? Well not surprisingly, the asset is now in default. On the one hand, only big rents can save this thing, but on the other what is the point of marketing it at a ridiculous rent and simply spinning your wheels?
Looking from the [...]
Prudential Takes Back Torre Plaza
February 16, 2010
It was imminent, but Prudential has taken back Torre Plaza from RREEF/Snell in a non-judicial foreclosure action. The building was taken back on a credit bid of about $17.6M or $187 psf, which it is not worth.
We first wrote up a post about the default back in October. This ended up being a raw deal [...]
Simon Property Group Going After General Growth
February 16, 2010
Simon Property Group (SPG: 85.23 +1.25%) has bid $10B for General Growth [GGWPQ.PK]. This comes as little surprise as there has been plenty of talk about Simon seeking to swallow the troubled owner of malls.
The bidding likely will go higher as General Growth also seeks alternative financing from other groups as a way to stay [...]
Sheraton in Pleasanton Sold for $12.3M
February 11, 2010
About a year ago we reported on the default of the Sheraton in Pleasanton. The hotel has now changed hands to a group of investors for $12.3M, or $72K per key (170 rooms).
The buyers, a partnership of Sethi Enterprises and Kapoor Enterprises expects to dump an additional $2m into the asset to upgrade lobbies and [...]
Congressional Oversight Panel Issues Report on CRE
February 11, 2010
The Congressional Oversight Panel, chaired by Elizabeth Warren has issued its February report, and it’s focus is on “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability”.
It’s a long read (189 pages), but from the executive summary here are some key points:
Between 2010 and 2014, about $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will [...]
Faber: US Will Default
February 10, 2010
Here’s to some comical relief (we hope). Marc Faber on CNBC projecting most governments will default, including the US, though he conveniently left out a time frame in his statement.
My thoughts are that if we’re going to default, might as well do it now while we still have the superior military rather than wait. But [...]
